Data centers include different types of electronic equipment such as servers and disk arrays that store all types of data. Data centers makeup the backside of the Internet, but they can also be implemented as part of a campus of one or companies for enabling them to perform their functionalities. Typically, equipment racks are utilized within data centers as a way of organizing and housing different types of electronic equipment therein. For example, an industry standard EIA (Electronics Industries Alliance) rack is often used to contain servers in a stacked arrangement that uses the available space more efficiently.
Some companies with high computing requirements may require dozens of racks, with each rack holding multiple servers or other components. A simple maintenance task, such as upgrading a part of a server, may have to be performed on each server and therefore may be performed hundreds of times. For example, when a system is being built, a great deal of time is spent configuring the rack structure and physically installing components into the rack.
Racks are typically constructed with perforated, hinged front doors, rigid sides and a removable rear panel. Industry standard 19″ EIA electronics racks are designed typically to house a column of electronics packages that are 17-¾″ in width with varying depths. The height of an electronics package can vary but is normally an integer multiple of an EIA unit called simply the “U.” An EIA U is 1.75 inches. Electronic equipment generally has a height in multiples of “Us” e.g., 1 U (1.75″), 2 U (3.50″), 3 U (5.25″), etc.
Typically, electronic components may be secured within the rack using a pair of rack rails that are secured to the rack structure. These rails may fix the component in place or support sliding mechanisms that enable the component to be easily moved in and out of the rack. Corresponding rails are located on the side surfaces of the electronics component, thus allowing the component to be pulled in and out of the rack frame easily.
The rails are attached to the vertical support columns by, for example, fasteners, such as screws, bolts and/or nuts. For example, rack nuts are installed adjacent selected apertures in the column flanges, and bolts are passed through apertures in mounting flanges of the rack mount assemblies and threaded into the rack nuts. With this type of rail, tools are required to attach the screws, bolts and nuts.
More recently, mounting systems have been developed for allowing attachment of the slides to the rack structure, and of the chassis to the slides, without the necessity of tools or separate installation hardware. However, these toolless mounting systems, while more convenient than previous mounting systems, have so far proved unsatisfactory. In particular, toolless mounting methods that have been developed typically cannot accommodate multiple mounting methods. Also, these mounting methods do not allow for maximum width systems to fit into the rack because the feature that holds onto the EIA rail of the rack must wrap around the EIA rail, thus taking a portion of the volume inside of the rack allotted to the system. Accordingly, these types of mounting systems force the system designers to give up precious system volume in order to accommodate the toolless mounting features. On highly dense 1 u servers, this loss of volume can be meaningful.
Finally, most of these designs require the installer to reach into the rack in order to release the rails, which can be difficult when removing a single system from a fully loaded rack. This is due to the release mechanism being located inside the actual mounting point on the rack, the EIA rail. Racks can also have different size and shape mounting holes, which complicates any toolless latching method. Toolless latching methods have been developed by different companies that can accommodate multiple mounting hole dimensions. However, prior toolless mounting systems have proven to be too complicated. Consequently, prior toolless rail mounting systems cannot be released without reaching into the rack, cannot accommodate various rack mounting hole shapes and sizes, and cannot be utilized with maximum width systems.
It can be seen that there is a need for method and apparatus for providing toolless rack mounting rail installation using a pin having a latch to provide ease of release, accommodation of various rack mounting hole shapes and sizes and use with maximum width systems.